After punch that knocked out patron, Allentown club security guard will face aggravated assault charges

Manuel Gamiz Jr./The Morning Call

The head of security for an Allentown after-hours club will face aggravated assault and related charges for punching out a patron last month, causing serious injuries that included fractures to the man’s nose, eye socket and jaw, according to court records.

The head of security for an Allentown after-hours club will face aggravated assault and related charges for punching out a patron last month, causing serious injuries that included fractures to the man’s nose, eye socket and jaw, according to court records. (Manuel Gamiz Jr./The Morning Call)

The head of security for an Allentown after-hours club will face aggravated assault and related charges for punching a patron last month, causing serious injuries that included fractures to the man’s nose, eye socket and jaw, court records say.

A video of the brutal Oct. 21 assault outside The View Lounge, located on the fifth floor of the Hamilton Business Center at 11th and Hamilton streets, assisted in the police investigation. The video was posted to Facebook and has been viewed nearly 2 million times.

The video shows a uniformed security guard, now identified as Juan A. Acosta-Morales, going after a group that was walking south on North 11th Street and crossing over Hamilton Street, court records show. The guard makes a vulgar comment at the group and charges at them, the video shows.

The security guard then shoves a man, identified as Harold Renovales, 26, of Reading, and punches him in the face, sending him crumbling face-first on the pavement in front of the club.

As the victim remains motionless on the street, the security guard is then seen on the video jumping around aggressively, “waving his hands and arms as to motion others to come towards him,” court records show.

The guard then yells “What’s up? What’s up?” and threatens others who were with Renovales, “Who’s gonna be next?”

Allentown police said they were initially dispatched around 4:30 a.m. that day on a reported fight, but no one told officers that a security guard had slugged and knocked out one of the club patrons.

An Allentown detective later spoke to the victim’s sister-in-law, Deyaneira Gonzalez, and she told them she was at the club that night when the security guard began to follow them and provoke them into a fight, according to court records. She said the security guard was trying to fight someone else, but Renovales was in the way and he punched him for no reason, court records show.

Renovales, who spoke to a detective while undergoing treatment at Reading Hospital, said the security guard appeared to have an issue with someone walking with his group of friends and Renovales tried to step between them. He said he remembered being pushed by the security guard and then awakening in a vehicle headed back to Reading, court records.

He told his friends he needed to go to the hospital. He spent several days in the hospital with fractures to his nose, eye socket and jaw, chipped teeth and a brain bleed.

The owner of The View, Eddie Pacheco, identified the man on the video as Acosta-Morales, his head of security, according to court records.

Acosta-Morales, 34, of the 600 block of North Eighth Street in Allentown, is being charged with aggravated assault, simple assault and harassment.

The altercation has led to renewed efforts from city officials to shut the place down through the city’s nuisance abatement ordinance.

Citing a number of past disturbance calls to the club, Allentown Councilwoman Candida Affa has led the charge against The View, saying “that place has to close down.”

“That was sickening to watch,” she has said about the Facebook video.

The owners of the club, which is in the same building as a district court and several other businesses, have recently applied for a liquor license, which would change the nature of the business to that of a traditional bar or club.

The club owners have not talked about the incident, but their attorney, John P. Karoly III, has said they’ve been cooperative with the Allentown police investigation.